Metro News & Reviews

Transportation headlines, Tuesday, January 19

It’s hard not to be a grumpy bear when it rains like this, so naturally I started my morning with a story from the San Diego Union-Tribune about the roll-out there of plastic, reusable fare cards that are tapped against machines that read them. Riders don’t seem to like them much and they can only be used to store monthly passes; transit officials say they can be used to track ridership patterns and emphasize they can be reused — just like a credit card. In the meantime, buses and trains still take cash and paper tickets. Sound familiar, anyone? Transit officials say on the Compass Card website that “in the future” riders will be able to add variable amounts, meaning that riders in San Diego will be able to do something you could do many, many, many, many years ago in Washington D.C.

Motorists on the northbound 110 through downtown know the drill: first traffic stacks up on the right side of the freeway due to the congested 101 interchange. Then traffic backs up on the left side due to the congested exit to the northbound 5. The L.A. Times explains Caltrans’ new solution — adding a “dynamic” second lane to the 5 exit that will be activated during rush hours and marked with lights. Sounds smart, but as the story acknowledges there are still some motorists blocking the regular lanes on the 110 by trying to cut into the exit lanes at the last second.

The Pasadena Star News has an editorial that says the Gold Line should be extended to both Whittier and South El Monte — not one or the other. The extension is a Measure R project and is currently under study by Metro officials who have yet to select a preferred route. Both would cost over $1 billion due to the fact there are long stretches that likely have to be elevated; the Star News doesn’t mention where the money would come from to build both lines. Here’s a link to the project page on Metro’s website.

Tired of seeing concrete everywhere you look? The Downtown News has a story about four park proposals in downtown L.A. — which sorely needs greenspace — and the Santa Monica Daily Press takes a look at a plan to build a park over the Santa Monica Freeway in downtown S.M. All still need dollars to become reality.

The Coolest Park & Ride Ever (Portland takes cues from L.A. as an interdisciplinary team of urban designers, architects, and analysts have proposed a neo-retro-futurist scenario for making downtown nearly car-free by 2050)
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